A campaign to find relatives of sailors who perished in an 1870 shipwreck off the coast of Donegal needs help.
The Legion of Mary committee of Carrick, Co Donegal, is to unveil a memorial cross on Saturday 22 March at 2pm in the village of Port. Relatives of one of the shipwreck survivors, Patrick Faul of Kilrush, Co Clare, will be in attendance. Despite quite a bit of publicity, no descendants of the other men on board have come forward. Six of them were Irish, so perhaps readers of Irish Genealogy News will come up trumps!
Here's the history of the doomed ship:
The ship was wrecked at Carnas Binne, just north of Glen Head on 16 October 1870. She was the Sydney, an 1117 ton ship built in 1860 in Glasgow that was first put to work in the Clyde and East India trade before being purchased in 1870 by a Mr Hamilton and a Mr Adam of Greenock plying the Quebec-Scotland timber route.
On 15 September 1870, with Captain Hamilton of Arran, Scotland, at the helm, the ship left Quebec bound for Greenock. Caught in a gale on 16 October, the Sydney was driven onto the rugged Donegal coastline. Only two men – Patrick Faul from Kilrush, Co Clare and William Pascal (Pascall) from the West Indies – survived. Nineteen perished.
The cargo of timber on board was salvaged by the small fishing and farming community of Port and used by the local tradesmen in the construction of houses and furniture. Waste not, want not.
And here is a list of men who died:
Captain James Hamilton, Arran
Hugh Blair, Greenock
Thomas Gondie, Greenock
Hernandez McDougall, Greenock
Thomas Williams, Glouster
John McNeil, Argyle
James Barclay, Tyrone
Albert CC Wertad, Norway
John Smith, Jamaica
Joseph (José?) Maria, Lisbon
Robert Humphries, Birkenhead
Alex Kindred, Sterling
John Kenealla (?) Kilrush, Co Clare
Hugh M Harman, Antrim
Patrick Somer, Dundalk
Patrick Bourke, Kilrush
Laurence Kenealla(?), Dublin
Thomas Davidson, London
Albert Pitman, London
If any of these names ring a bell from your family history research, or if you have any additional information about them, please contact Donegal County Museum, High Road, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, Ireland.
Tel +353 (0)74 9124613 E museum@donegalcoco.ie
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Exclusive: Countdown to GRONI's new online system
You'll be pleased to hear that the Northern Ireland Assembly has approved the General Register Office of Northern Ireland's proposed new fee structure. In effect, this approval kick-starts the countdown to the launch of GRONI's new online facility for viewing birth, marriage and death civil registration data and purchasing certificates. (For details of how the online system will work and what it will cost, see my WDYTYA?Live report, here.)
With the legislation passed, GRONI can introduce the new fee structure from 31 March, and only FROM 31 March. Neither the fee structure nor the online facility to which it relates, can legally be introduced before that date.
Alistair Butler of GRONI has confirmed to Irish Genealogy News that the new system – to be known simply as the GRO Family History website – will start operating in GRONI's public search room on 31 March. "Any researcher visiting the public search room from that date will be presented with the new system." he says. "This 'soft launch' allows us to be sure everything is working properly before the fanfares start,' he says. 'The full online launch is still expected to be mid-April."
These are the same provisional timings advised previously, so there's no ground-breaking news here, but it's good to know that, with the legislation finally passed, there are no more obstacles standing in the way of this important development, which will change Northern Irish genealogy research forever.
It's really going to happen!
With the legislation passed, GRONI can introduce the new fee structure from 31 March, and only FROM 31 March. Neither the fee structure nor the online facility to which it relates, can legally be introduced before that date.
Alistair Butler of GRONI has confirmed to Irish Genealogy News that the new system – to be known simply as the GRO Family History website – will start operating in GRONI's public search room on 31 March. "Any researcher visiting the public search room from that date will be presented with the new system." he says. "This 'soft launch' allows us to be sure everything is working properly before the fanfares start,' he says. 'The full online launch is still expected to be mid-April."
These are the same provisional timings advised previously, so there's no ground-breaking news here, but it's good to know that, with the legislation finally passed, there are no more obstacles standing in the way of this important development, which will change Northern Irish genealogy research forever.
It's really going to happen!
New guide for genealogy reseach in Co Monaghan
The 24-page booklet starts with a brief general introduction on how to start genealogical research. It continues with an overview of the main resources used in Irish genealogy and then develops this theme with county-specific details and listings of the records accessible at the County Library in Clones. These include a collection of Church of Ireland and Presbyterian parish records on cd, Roman Catholic registers for the Diocese of Clogher up to 1880 on microfilm, regional and local newspapers on microfilm plus estate rental books for Anketell, Newbliss, Ballybay and Rossmore estates; some workhouse records; and transcriptions of newspaper obituaries and graveyard inscriptions.
How to trace your ancestors in County Monaghan is a neat and useful reference tool for any genealogist with connections to the county. It's available in local libraries and can also be downloaded free of charge by clicking on the image above (pdf 3.8 Mb).
FindMyPast adds Belfast Morning News for 1858
All issues of the Belfast Morning News for the year 1858 have been added to the FindMyPast line-up of searchable Irish newspapers.This upload includes 11,482 articles.
FindMyPast's collection of the Belfast Morning News now spans from November 1857 to December 1871 and from January 1879 to April 1882, covering some 4,359 editions of this publication.
Emerald Ancestors adds Church Census to collection
Listing more than 700 names, it joins an earlier census for this church taken in 1835.
Both censuses list all members within a household including children, and identify the townland in which the family resides.
Prevalent Presbyterian family surnames recorded in the census include: Allen, Armstrong, Black, Buchanan, Caldwell, Chism, Corry, Coulter, Cunningham, Dill, Donnelly, Edgar, Gay, Gilmour, Graham, Guy, Hamilton, Hutchinson, Kerr, Livingston, Love, Marshall, May, McBride, McCracken, McFarland, McIldowney, McKeraghan (McKerihan), McMullan, Monteith, Nethery, Patterson, Robb, Sawyers, Scott, Sherrard, Simpson, Smith (Smyth), Sproule, Stevenson, Synd, Todd, Wallace, Watson, White & Wylay.
Copies of both the 1835 and 1864 census extracts are available to members through the Emerald Ancestors' Look Up facility and can be found at the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland under microfilm reference MIC 1P/247a.
Recent updates of Irish interest to Ancestry
While there hasn't been a big Irish collection added to Ancestry.co.uk for some time, there has been a spate of new arrivals and updates over the last three weeks that deserve a bit of a mention.
Lower Canada/Quebec 1825 and 1842
The most recent additions of particular interest are the Lower Canada censuses of 1825 and 1842, which hold more than 120,000 records. A good proportion of entries relate to Irish immigrants who were the most numerous immigrants to Canada throughout the 19th century. And not just because of the Famine exodus.
We tend to think that Irish immigrants to Canada were all desperate migrants escaping the Famine that gripped Ireland in the second half of the 1840s. But in the preceding thirty years, and especially in the 1820s and early 1830s, many Irish & mainly Catholic tenant farmers & had emigrated and settled along the St Lawrence River. By 1844, they made up more than 6% of the population, so these two record sets are worth checking out.
As with so many early and regional record sets, the information contained in these censuses isn't fullsome. Heads of households are identified with full name, but the people within their household are captured only numerically. So, for example, there's a Patrick Doyle living in Hemmingford, Huntingdon, with four others, but no names or exact ages are recorded. The same applies to the 1842 census.
These collections are also available free of charge on Family Search, along with the 1831 census.
Liverpool and Manchester
Parish register collections for both these large English urban centres have been 'updated', according to Ancestry. No precise detail about the nature of the update is provided, but these are such large and important collections for Irish family history research, and cover such huge chunks of time, it's probably as well to check them out again if your Irish ancestors travelled through or settled in either city.
New York Naturalisation Petitions
This collection of some 1.2million records has been 'updated'. Naturalisation papers were filed in various federal, state, and local courts in New York dates from 1794 to 1906 and the collection includes many, many Irish emigrants.
The information available for each individual recorded in the collection includes name and surname, birth date or age, arrival port and date and details of where the original papers can be found. While the amount of information contained in each document varies widely across the 110-year span as well as according to place, these records often contain significant genealogical information, so they're well worth a second search to see if 'updated' has added any new entries.
Canada, Seafarers of the Atlantic Provinces, 1860-1899
This is a brand-new collection to Ancestry, containing data on the vessels, captains and crews of Great Britain and Atlantic Canada. It is fully searchable by name, and other particulars and the records include a wealth of information including birth and residence, rank, voyage departure and arrival places and dates, vessel name and registration, and even wages and deaths at sea.
Lower Canada/Quebec 1825 and 1842
The most recent additions of particular interest are the Lower Canada censuses of 1825 and 1842, which hold more than 120,000 records. A good proportion of entries relate to Irish immigrants who were the most numerous immigrants to Canada throughout the 19th century. And not just because of the Famine exodus.
We tend to think that Irish immigrants to Canada were all desperate migrants escaping the Famine that gripped Ireland in the second half of the 1840s. But in the preceding thirty years, and especially in the 1820s and early 1830s, many Irish & mainly Catholic tenant farmers & had emigrated and settled along the St Lawrence River. By 1844, they made up more than 6% of the population, so these two record sets are worth checking out.
As with so many early and regional record sets, the information contained in these censuses isn't fullsome. Heads of households are identified with full name, but the people within their household are captured only numerically. So, for example, there's a Patrick Doyle living in Hemmingford, Huntingdon, with four others, but no names or exact ages are recorded. The same applies to the 1842 census.
These collections are also available free of charge on Family Search, along with the 1831 census.
Liverpool and Manchester
Parish register collections for both these large English urban centres have been 'updated', according to Ancestry. No precise detail about the nature of the update is provided, but these are such large and important collections for Irish family history research, and cover such huge chunks of time, it's probably as well to check them out again if your Irish ancestors travelled through or settled in either city.
New York Naturalisation Petitions
This collection of some 1.2million records has been 'updated'. Naturalisation papers were filed in various federal, state, and local courts in New York dates from 1794 to 1906 and the collection includes many, many Irish emigrants.
The information available for each individual recorded in the collection includes name and surname, birth date or age, arrival port and date and details of where the original papers can be found. While the amount of information contained in each document varies widely across the 110-year span as well as according to place, these records often contain significant genealogical information, so they're well worth a second search to see if 'updated' has added any new entries.
Canada, Seafarers of the Atlantic Provinces, 1860-1899
This is a brand-new collection to Ancestry, containing data on the vessels, captains and crews of Great Britain and Atlantic Canada. It is fully searchable by name, and other particulars and the records include a wealth of information including birth and residence, rank, voyage departure and arrival places and dates, vessel name and registration, and even wages and deaths at sea.
Monday, 10 March 2014
National Archives of Ireland: website search problems
The National Archives of Ireland is advising that its website's search function is not currently working correctly.
Technies are working on the problem and hope to fix it promptly.
I'll update this page as appropriate.
UPDATE, 18 March: Problem is on-going.
Technies are working on the problem and hope to fix it promptly.
I'll update this page as appropriate.
UPDATE, 18 March: Problem is on-going.
Church of Ireland History Society conference
The Church of Ireland Historical Society is to hold a conference in Armagh Public Library on Saturday, 5 April at 10.30am. The venue, at 43 Abbey Street, Armagh, BT61 7DY, is the oldest library in Northern Ireland.
The programme in brief:
The conference is open to all. Members free/€10 non-members.
Register for the conference and/or become a member.
The programme in brief:
- Reverend William Phelan and the historiography of the Church of Ireland, with Professor Jacqueline Hill
- The 1622 royal visitation of the Church of Ireland in Ulster, with Dr Brendan Scott
- Irish Protestant Nationalist Stephen Gwynn during the revolutionary period, c. 1912–23, with Dr Colin Reid
- The suppression of street begging in early nineteenth–century Ireland, with Ciarán McCabe.
The conference is open to all. Members free/€10 non-members.
Register for the conference and/or become a member.
Irish genealogy, history & heritage events 10–17 March
Monday 10 March: The destruction of the Public Record Office, Dublin, on 30 June 1922, with Dr John M Regan. Venue: Town Hall Theatre, Galway. 8pm. €3/€2 concessions. Bring your own tissues.
Monday 10 March: The Irish Language, with Linda Ervine. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Newtownabbey Branch. Venue: Drama Theatre, Glengormley High School, 134 Ballyclare Road, Newtownabbey, BT36 5HP 7pm. Details.
Monday 10 March: Brian Boru and his Dal Cais origins, with Dr Cathy Swift. Part of the Battle of Clontarf commemoration series of lectures hosted by Clontarf Historical Society and Raheny Heritage Society. Venue: Clasac Theatre, Alfie Byrne Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3. 8:15pm. Members free, non-members €5. Tea and coffee after lecture. Details: Kay Lonergan, +353 1-8338711.
Tuesday 11 March: Dublin City Library & Archive as a resource for the family history researcher, with Dr. Máire Kennedy. Host: Genelaogical Society of Ireland. Venue: Dún Laoghaire College of Further Education, Cumberland St., Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. 8pm. €3.
Tuesday 11 March: The loss of the FitzGerald fortune, 1903-1948, with Professor Terence Dooley. The fifth and final lecture in the Carton Winter Lecture Series Venue: Carton House, Maynooth, Co Kildare. 8pm. Light refreshments from 7:15pm. Enquires: tel (01) 6517708.
Tuesday 11 March: Taking your Irish ancestors back over the pond, with Ruth Blair. Venue: Oakville Public Library, Central Branch Auditorium, 120 Navy Street, Oakville, Ontario, Canada. 7:00-8:30pm. Details.
Tuesday 11 March: Irish Food Products from Ancient Times to the Medieval Period, with Dr. Liam Downe. Host: Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society. Venue: Tralee Library. 7:30pm. Free. All welcome.
Wednesday 12 March:St. Patrick’s Day & the Irish in England: History, Identity & Belonging, with Marc Scully. Venue: Five Leaves Bookshop, 14a Long Row, Nottingham NG1 2DH, UK. 7.30pm-9.00pm. Tickets: £3 on the door. Refreshments included. Tel: 0115 8373097.
Wednesday 12 March: Irish genealogy 101, with Lisa Dougherty. Venue: Irish American Heritage Museum, Broadway, Albany, NY. 6:30pm. Free.
Wednesday 12 March: Constance de Markievicz: Fact and Fiction, with Dr Ann Matthews. Host: United Left People First. Venue: Glasshouse Hotel, Swan Point, Sligo. 8pm. Free.
Wednesday 12 March: What do Irish place names Ahoghill, Annahorish or Cullybackey really mean?, with Mary Delargy discussing Irish place names, where they come from and how the Irish language affects the way we speak English. Part of the Irish Language Week of events at the LinenHall Library, 17 Donegall Square North, Belfast BT1 5GB. 1pm. Performance area. Free. All welcome.
Thursday 13 March: Education in Wicklow from parish schools to national schools, with Michael Seery. Host: Enniskerry History Society. Venue: Powerscourt Arms Hotel, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow. 8:30pm. All welcome. €3.
Thursday 13 March: Robert Tressell, Dubliner: author of ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’
with Bryan MacMahon. Host Kilmacud Stillorgan Local History Society. Venue: Function Room, Glenalbyn, Kilmacud GAA Club, Stillorgan, Co Dublin. 8pm. €3. Visitors welcome.
Thursday 13 to Saturday 15 March: Family History Event – talks and one-to-one consultations. Host: The Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland (APGI) and the Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS). Venue: The Irish World Heritage Centre in Manchester, UK. Details.
Friday 14 March: Military Service Pensions for veterans of the Irish Revolution, with Dr Marie Coleman. Host: Military History Society of Ireland. Venue: Griffith College, South Circular Road, Dublin 8. Time: 8pm. Non-members very welcome.
Friday 14 and Saturday 15 March: Family History Conference, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Cork Genealogy Society. Local and nationally acclaimed speakers. Venue: Silver Springs Moran Hotel, Cork. Costs: €30, plus €35 for Saturday Dinner (optional). Details.
Saturday 15 March: Genealogy Day in Limerick. A major event in the City of Culture programme, Genealogy Day will see local, regional and national organisations ready to help family historians with free advice and guidance. Original registers of local churches will also be available for consultation. Venue: Christ Church, O'Connell Street, Limerick City. Details.
Monday 17 March: St Patrick's Day! Bank holiday in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Monday 10 March: The Irish Language, with Linda Ervine. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Newtownabbey Branch. Venue: Drama Theatre, Glengormley High School, 134 Ballyclare Road, Newtownabbey, BT36 5HP 7pm. Details.
Monday 10 March: Brian Boru and his Dal Cais origins, with Dr Cathy Swift. Part of the Battle of Clontarf commemoration series of lectures hosted by Clontarf Historical Society and Raheny Heritage Society. Venue: Clasac Theatre, Alfie Byrne Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3. 8:15pm. Members free, non-members €5. Tea and coffee after lecture. Details: Kay Lonergan, +353 1-8338711.
Tuesday 11 March: Dublin City Library & Archive as a resource for the family history researcher, with Dr. Máire Kennedy. Host: Genelaogical Society of Ireland. Venue: Dún Laoghaire College of Further Education, Cumberland St., Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. 8pm. €3.
Tuesday 11 March: The loss of the FitzGerald fortune, 1903-1948, with Professor Terence Dooley. The fifth and final lecture in the Carton Winter Lecture Series Venue: Carton House, Maynooth, Co Kildare. 8pm. Light refreshments from 7:15pm. Enquires: tel (01) 6517708.
Tuesday 11 March: Taking your Irish ancestors back over the pond, with Ruth Blair. Venue: Oakville Public Library, Central Branch Auditorium, 120 Navy Street, Oakville, Ontario, Canada. 7:00-8:30pm. Details.
Tuesday 11 March: Irish Food Products from Ancient Times to the Medieval Period, with Dr. Liam Downe. Host: Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society. Venue: Tralee Library. 7:30pm. Free. All welcome.
Wednesday 12 March:St. Patrick’s Day & the Irish in England: History, Identity & Belonging, with Marc Scully. Venue: Five Leaves Bookshop, 14a Long Row, Nottingham NG1 2DH, UK. 7.30pm-9.00pm. Tickets: £3 on the door. Refreshments included. Tel: 0115 8373097.
Wednesday 12 March: Irish genealogy 101, with Lisa Dougherty. Venue: Irish American Heritage Museum, Broadway, Albany, NY. 6:30pm. Free.
Wednesday 12 March: Constance de Markievicz: Fact and Fiction, with Dr Ann Matthews. Host: United Left People First. Venue: Glasshouse Hotel, Swan Point, Sligo. 8pm. Free.
Wednesday 12 March: What do Irish place names Ahoghill, Annahorish or Cullybackey really mean?, with Mary Delargy discussing Irish place names, where they come from and how the Irish language affects the way we speak English. Part of the Irish Language Week of events at the LinenHall Library, 17 Donegall Square North, Belfast BT1 5GB. 1pm. Performance area. Free. All welcome.
Thursday 13 March: Education in Wicklow from parish schools to national schools, with Michael Seery. Host: Enniskerry History Society. Venue: Powerscourt Arms Hotel, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow. 8:30pm. All welcome. €3.
Thursday 13 March: Robert Tressell, Dubliner: author of ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’
with Bryan MacMahon. Host Kilmacud Stillorgan Local History Society. Venue: Function Room, Glenalbyn, Kilmacud GAA Club, Stillorgan, Co Dublin. 8pm. €3. Visitors welcome.
Thursday 13 to Saturday 15 March: Family History Event – talks and one-to-one consultations. Host: The Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland (APGI) and the Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS). Venue: The Irish World Heritage Centre in Manchester, UK. Details.
Friday 14 March: Military Service Pensions for veterans of the Irish Revolution, with Dr Marie Coleman. Host: Military History Society of Ireland. Venue: Griffith College, South Circular Road, Dublin 8. Time: 8pm. Non-members very welcome.
Friday 14 and Saturday 15 March: Family History Conference, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Cork Genealogy Society. Local and nationally acclaimed speakers. Venue: Silver Springs Moran Hotel, Cork. Costs: €30, plus €35 for Saturday Dinner (optional). Details.
Saturday 15 March: Genealogy Day in Limerick. A major event in the City of Culture programme, Genealogy Day will see local, regional and national organisations ready to help family historians with free advice and guidance. Original registers of local churches will also be available for consultation. Venue: Christ Church, O'Connell Street, Limerick City. Details.
Monday 17 March: St Patrick's Day! Bank holiday in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Friday, 7 March 2014
RootsIreland delivers first batch of Co Clare records
 |
| Clare turns green at RootsIreland |
Some 32,000 transcribed baptism records for the seven Roman Catholic parishes listed below can now be searched for the years shown:
Cratloe 1802 - 1901
Crusheen 1860 - 1900
Ennis 1841 - 1900
Feakle 1860 - 1900
Mountshannon 1846 - 1900
Parteen 1831 - 1902
Scariff 1852 - 1900
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